May 8, 2014
Ernesto McConnell
Reporter
Headlines
88-year-old Russell Dermond’s decapitated body was found in the garage of his home, located in the Great Waters community of Putnam County, Georgia; his severed head and his wife, 87-year-old Shirley Dermond, are still missing. Shirley Dermond is, as of now, considered to have been abducted. Authorities stated that her cell phone, pocketbook and vehicle were left behind at the elderly couple’s multi-million dollar waterfront home. “I don’t think it’s a random incident. I think for whatever reason these people were singled out for this,” said Putnam county Sheriff Howard Sills. Friends of the Dermonds, worried because they had not heard from the couple in days, went to the lakefront home, eventually discovering Russell’s body. “You’ve got such unusual circumstances here,” stated Sills. “If it’s an abduction, you would expect some sort of extortion demand. If it was an assassination, you’d think both bodies would be there. And then you have, totally, nothing in their background that indicates anything like this, and then the area where it happened is not indicative of any type of homicide.” There are currently no leads.
